The true church of Jesus Christ is made up of only born again believers who belong to Him. That's the true church of Jesus Christ. There's a lot of churches that are out there today. Since the church was born on the day of Pentecost, when Christ sent His Holy Spirit to indwell His people, She has been constantly assaulted by the world, by the flesh, by the devil. In our day, we see churches that are steeped in legalism, in liberalism, in compromise, carnality, pragmatism, entertainment. racism, immorality, false teaching, materialism, division, and we could go on and on. That's the state of the church today in our nation in many places. But Paul declares in 2 Timothy 4, verses two and three, he says, preach the word. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled. They will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. That's the state of the majority of churches today. Accumulating teachers because they want their ears tickled. They're not interested in the word of God. And yet God has graciously preserved his word down through the ages for us to have in our hands the very word of God. People don't care. what the pastor may say. They don't really necessarily want to know what he says. People who have a heart for God, they wanna know what God says, and that's in his word. As we continue on our study of Revelation, God's vision of the glorified Christ. This is Jesus Christ in all of his glory, his full glory. That's what we're gonna be looking at. this morning, and John's vision shows what Jesus Christ is doing in his church right now. Right now. So that we will not worry about the future of the church, no matter how bad the church may get at large, or what difficulties we face in our lives. This is an amazing vision that every believer, every one of us need to hear. Again, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Revelation 1. We're looking at this morning, verses 12 through 20. In Revelation 1, verses 12 through 20, we're gonna be seeing four truths, four truths about John's vision of the glorified Christ that I believe should deeply comfort and encourage all of our hearts. The first truth. The first truth is this. The church is precious to Christ. The church is precious to Christ. Last time in verses nine through 11, we saw where John received this first vision while he was in the spirit on the Lord's day, which we said was Sunday. He heard a loud voice like a trumpet, which came from Jesus Christ, commissioning him to write in a scroll all that he saw. Now John says in verse 12, look what he says. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. The first thing that John sees in his vision is seven golden lampstands. Each of these was like the seven branch golden lampstand in the Old Testament tabernacle. that had seven oil lamps that lit the entire holy place of the tabernacle. We see what these lampstands mean as you look down in your Bible to verse 20, look what he says. as for the mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Here it is. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So he turns around, he sees these seven golden lampstands, which represent the seven churches. In the New Testament, a mystery is something that has been previously hidden, but is now revealed. And what is revealed is the seven stars that we'll see in verse 16, but also the seven golden lampstands. These represent the seven churches in Asia minor. We've already talked about them in verse four, verse 11. And next week we will begin because all of chapters two and three are addressing Jesus personally writing and talking to each one of these seven churches. These seven churches were real churches during the first century. But since seven, as we've already seen in one of our introductory messages, is the number of fullness and completion. These seven churches also represent all of the churches through all of the church age, different kinds of churches. So as we will see in chapters two and three, Again, they're addressing certain issues that through all of church history, the church has gone through these different things. Then notice that each lamp stand is made of gold. It's made of gold. Gold is a precious metal. The church is precious to Christ. It's valuable to Him. Just as the lampstand was symbolic of Israel's witness to the surrounding Gentile nations, so Christ's church is to be a witness to the world. As Christ's church, we're to shine the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a spiritually dark and dying world. The word of God makes it clear that Jesus is the light of the world. He is the light. The light represents truth. Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, but through me. And just as Christ is the light of the world, the church of the living God is the pillar and the support of that truth, of that light to the world. We as a church are to be a witness. We are to get that light out to the world. Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse 16, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. How encouraging. How encouraging that God wants to use each one of us as his children to get the light out, to shine the light of his truth, of his gospel to a lost and dying world. Is the light of Christ and his truth shining through your life? Is that a priority that that happened? The second truth about John's vision of the glorified Christ is what I call the features of Christ's amazing glory. The features of Christ's amazing glory. Look at verse 13. And in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like a son of man clothed in a robe, reaching to his feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash." So the first thing that John sees when he hears that voice and he turns around is this, or seven golden lampstands. And then in the middle of all of those lampstands, in the middle of all those churches, He sees one like a son of man. The phrase son of man is the title for Jesus Christ, the Messiah. John alludes to Daniel chapter seven, verses 13 and 14 here, when he talks about the son of man. Daniel says, I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the ancient of days, the ancient of days is God the Father, and came near him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the people's nations and men of every tongue might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not be taken away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. John gives three features of Christ's amazing glory in verses 13 through 16. Again, these are broad categories, but three features of his amazing glory. He uses the word like, as we will see as we go through this. He uses the word like seven times. Seven times, and I've said that in the introduction. that John is trying to describe the indescribable. So all he can say is, it's like this, it's like that. He is overwhelmed with this vision of the glorified Christ. The first feature is Christ's ongoing presence. Look again at verse 13, where John sees in the middle of the churches, the Son of Man. The Son of Man is in the middle of the churches, which shows Christ's present ministry in and among his church. We know from Acts that Jesus ascended to heaven. He's seated at the right hand of God, but he's not just at the right hand of God. He's not sitting in heaven sending down orders to the church. Right now, Jesus Christ has taken up residence in every true believer's heart, individually, collectively, as a church. He is always with us. He promises to never desert us, to never leave us, never forsake us. That's why we don't invite Him into our presence. We acknowledge His presence. He is always there. The second feature is Christ's continual intercession. His continual intercession. Look at the second part of verse 13. Christ is clothed in a robe reaching to his feet. What does that mean? Well, long robes were worn by kings. They were also worn by prophets showing their dignity. But clearly Christ himself is the king of kings and he is the ultimate prophet. But this robe is especially the garment, as we see in the Old Testament of the high priest. Most of the passage dealing with long robes have to do with the high priest. This was part of the attire, the garment of the high priest. Jesus Christ is the great high priest who purchased ourselves our redemption, our salvation by his blood. And we're told in God's word that he continually intercedes as our great high priest on our behalf. He intercedes for us, he prays for us. We see his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, but he prays for his children all the time. He knows what we're going through. He knows what we're dealing with. And he is praying for us. What an encouragement. And this is reinforced at the end of verse 13. Look what it says, and girded across his chest with a golden sash. The high priest in the Old Testament, not only wore a long robe, but also a golden sash. Our high priest prays for us. Hebrews chapter four, verses 14 through 16 says, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us take hold of our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. And as the perfect high priest, not only does he pray for us, but here, verse 16, he is calling us to pray to him. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer. Prayer is dependence. We need the Lord. And again, remember, this is sent to the seven churches who were going through, as we saw in the introduction, horrendous persecution under Domitian, Emperor Domitian's reign of terror, one of the most cruel of the emperors. And what he's saying here in this vision, what Christ is giving John to write was to be a deep encouragement to those who were suffering and being persecuted. The third feature is Christ's glorious appearance. Christ's glorious appearance in his vision of the awe-inspiring, and yet terrifying son of man. John describes seven aspects of Christ in all of his glory. No longer is this the Jesus who stepped out of heaven to become the God-man in humiliation for the purpose of going to the cross to take upon himself the sin of the world. He is now glorified. He is now presenting himself in all of his glory. Look at verse 14. First of all, and his head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow. Stop there. The word white here refers to a blazing, glowing white light that is blinding. It's symbolic of Christ's absolute holiness and sinlessness of life as well as the truth, the absolute truth that he himself is. And this is significant in the fact that he is now in the middle of the churches wanting to purify his church. In Daniel 7-9, the Ancient of Days is also described as having the hair of his head like pure wool, and his clothing was like white as snow. And to apply these characteristics of God the Father, the Ancient of Days, to the Son of Man shows that Christ shares in his deity, in his holiness. Second, again in verse 14, look what he says, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His eyes were like a flame of fire. John alludes to Daniel chapter 10, verse six, his eyes were like flaming torches. This speaks of Christ's laser-like penetrating sight of omniscience. or the fact that he knows everything. That enables him to see clearly and to evaluate everything, everything about us, his church, individually as well as corporately. And we're gonna see that as we come to chapters two and three where he is doing that very thing with them. Hebrews 4.13 says, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are uncovered. They're laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we have an account to give. Third, in verse 15, his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in the furnace. Stop there. Christ's red-hot, glowing, bronze-like feet represents His strong, authoritative movement among His churches. He's in the middle, He's moving around, looking at each one. His desire is to bring moral purity within His church to His people. Again, we see that everywhere in Scripture, in the New Testament, where God's goal is not our comfort, it's our Christ-like character. And he brings trials, he brings situations into our life, again, to bring the dross of sin to the surface so that can get taken away. And he refines us, he's purifying us to make us more and more conformed to the image of Christ. And for those who refuse to repent of their sin, This feat of burnished bronze and God's movement includes discipline, discipline to get people to become more like Christ. God's discipline is not punishment. Hebrews 12, five through 11 talks about how God disciplines because he loves us as his children. Fourth again in verse 15, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. Christ's voice represents the authority of his commands that we must listen to. We must listen to in his word and obey. His voice is powerful, it's booming. It's like the roar of a waterfall. Go to Niagara, you can't even hear yourself think. It's so loud. The crashing of the waves against the rocks at Patmos, which John heard every day. Fifth, in verse 16, and having in his right hand seven stars. As the head of the church, Christ exercises authority in his church. His right hand represents his majestic power and strength. The seven stars he is holding is explained as we saw in verse 20. Look again at verse 20. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Even the best commentators, disagree over who these stars or these angels were. The word angels literally means messengers. It can mean angel, which is a spiritual being, because we see, as we saw earlier in our introduction, that angels are seen throughout the book of Revelation. So it can mean that, but literally it's talking about messengers. Again, I've read all the different views that deal with who these angels are, or these stars. Personally, I believe the best view is seeing these as human messengers, because it's in the context of the church. human messengers that are representatives of the seven churches. There are probably seven elders or pastors representing each of the seven churches who come and they visit John on Patmos and then carry their respective letter and the completed book of Revelation back to their own church. Therefore, Christ holding them, these stars, these angels, these messengers in his right hand, pictures, his absolute authority, his complete control over his church and over his leaders in the church. Sixth, in verse 16, and a sharp two-edged sword which comes out of his mouth. Stop there. The word sword here is not the small dagger. It's not the small dagger. A Roman soldier had just this little dagger that he had that was only a few inches long for like real close-up fighting. but he had a great big broad sword, two-edged, that was really to do the damage. This is a two-edged broad sword. Two-edged is meant to, it means that it has greater sharpness. It cuts both ways. It signifies Christ's judgment on all those both inside as well as outside the church that would harm his people. It is showing his protection of the church. And he is doing that by the power of His Word, a sharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth. The power of God's Word to bring judgment. And we will see as we get further along when Christ comes, I mean, He just speaks, boom, the enemy's gone. The wicked are gone. That's the power of the word of God, the same powerful word by which God spoke everything into existence. Everything that is, he spoke into existence. Out of nothing, as we see in Genesis 1. Seventh, at the end of verse 16, and his face was like the sun, shining in its power. Peter, James, and John got a glimpse of Christ's glory, where he kind of pulled back his humanity, his humiliation. Where Christ before, he laid aside the independent use of his divine prerogatives, his divine attributes in submission to the Father, but at the Mount of Transfiguration. He pulled that back of who I really am. He showed that inner three, Peter, James, and John, who he really was. In Matthew 17 too, it says, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. They got a glimpse back then, but John again sees the radiant glory, the beauty of that is blazing forth from Christ's face like the brightness of the sun at high noon on a cloudless day. You can't even, you can't even look at it. This speaks of Christ reflecting his glory through his church, shining the light of who he is, again, to a lost and dying world. 2 Corinthians 4, 6, for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Though filling us with holy fear and awe, if we really allow ourselves to put ourselves in John's place, to see what Jesus is telling us about himself and his word. It fills our heart with holy fear and awe, but how encouraging it is to know that our glorified Christ, our Lord, is always with us. He is praying for us. and his glorious features not only assure us about who he is, how big he is, how majestic and powerful he is, but also shows us that in his hands, as his children, we are eternally secure. no matter what is happening, no matter what suffering, what problems, what persecution we may be going through. He is bigger than all of that. No wonder Paul declared in Romans 8, verse 31, if God is for us, who can be against us? We come to the third truth about John's vision of the glorified Christ. which is what I call the response to seeing Christ's glory. The response to seeing who Jesus really is in his full glory. Look at verse 17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. Stop there. John's vision of Christ in all of his blazing holiness, his majesty and his glory was so overwhelmed and terrified that he fainted at Christ's feet. Such fear was the standard response of those who truly saw, who truly saw a vision of God's glory. After Peter, James, and John saw Christ transfigured before, right before them on the Mount of Transfiguration, 65 years earlier, Matthew chapter 17, verse six, says that they fell on their faces and were terrified. And we see through scripture, similar things happened to Abraham, to Gideon, to Manoah. Manoah was the father of Samson. to Job, to Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zacharias, Peter, Paul, they all had the same thing when they were confronted with a vision of the glorified Christ. They were flat on their face. They weren't high-fiving. They weren't, hey, giving a little hug. They were terrified. So don't believe what people say today about when they see God, we had such a great time together. If John, who was one of Jesus' closest disciples, couldn't stand before his blazing holy glory, don't believe those today who frivolously and falsely claim to have seen him. Hebrews 12, 28 and 29 says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, talking to believers, let us show gratitude by which we offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming God. And notice what Jesus does and says to John in verse 17. Again, even though he was terrified, he fainted from holy fright right at his feet. Verse 17 says, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, do not fear. Do not fear. Just as he had done with Peter, James, and John earlier, on the Mount of Transfiguration, so Jesus places his right hand. Remember, the right hand is the hand of strength. He places that on John to comfort and assure him of his love and his acceptance. John, it's okay. You know, never underestimate the power of a compassionate touch. Imagine how John felt when the glorified Christ touched him. It's okay. Don't be afraid. He tells John, do not fear. Literally, stop fearing. This can be said only to those who have truly repented of their sins. Who have put saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Because of the sufficiency of his perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross on their behalf. Those are the only ones who Jesus would say Don't be afraid. You see, without being the forgiven, the saved children of God, we should be terrified. Hebrews 10.31 declares, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And as we will see as we continue on, those who have rejected Christ are asking the mountains to fall down on them, to cover them up from the face of the living God. But he is compassionate to his own. to those who have placed their faith in him. Jesus then gives four reasons why John should not be afraid. First, Jesus says at the end of verse 17, I am the first and the last. This title was used of Yahweh in the Old Testament, which clearly points to the deity, the eternality, the wisdom of Jesus Christ. Since Jesus is the creator and the consummator of all things and sovereignly rules over all of history, from the beginning to the end, the first and the last, we who belong to him have nothing to fear. This is particularly a comfort to those believers who are suffering, to those who are being persecuted. And that's why, again, this is going to minister to those believers in the churches in Asia Minor and beyond, all through church history. as we saw last time, the persecution that believers have gone through, even today. Jesus says in verse 18, not only is he, I am the first and the last, not only that, but and the living one. Jesus applies this Old Testament title of the living God to himself to prove He is deity, he is God, he is the God-man that is glorified. He alone is life itself and the giver of life. Since Christ has paid in full the penalty for our sins on the cross and he has given each one of us who have placed our faith in him eternal life, we have nothing to fear. Third, Jesus says, again in verse 18, I was dead, and behold, I'm alive forever and ever. What a striking paradox. The living one died. But death did not triumph over him. Why? Because he's life itself. His humanity died. but he is still God himself. I didn't phase him. The word behold means listen up, pay attention. This is super important. Since Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead and is alive forevermore, we as believers are eternally secure in him. He has promised us, because I live, you will live also. We have no reason to fear. And yet why often, why so often do we do that? Why do we fear when God says don't, stop? It's because we don't believe truly what he says. Fourth, Jesus says at the end of verse 18, and I have the keys of death in Hades. The word keys represents access, authority to open and to close. The words death and Hades essentially have the same meaning. The nuances, whereas death is the state or condition Hades, equivalent to Sheol in the Old Testament, is the place of the dead. So death is the state or the condition of being dead. Hades is the place of the dead. And again, as you study scripture, you see it's particularly temporary hell. I like to call it temporary hell, Hades, for unbelievers. Those who have refused Christ in this life, when they die, their body goes to the grave, their spirit goes to Hades, or temporary hell. Because as you see, all that the Bible talks about, it is a place of torment. But it's only temporary. Because we will see at the end, in Revelation 20 verse 14, God, takes death and Hades and throws them into the lake of fire, the second death, which is eternal hell. Therefore, since Christ has authority over or controls life and death, and that he decides, he decides who lives, who dies, and when, All of the days of our lives were numbered, as you see in Psalm 139, before we were ever born. He is sovereignly in control. He has the authority. He controls all of that. Because of all that, we are indestructible until he is finished with us. We're indestructible. until he's finished with us. Now I'm not saying go jump out of a plane and see how indestructible you are. Because that might be the time when you die. But the point is, he's in charge. How comforting to know that we belong to him. We belong to him. And therefore, we can live without fear. The fourth truth about John's vision of the glorified Christ is what I call the vision gives revelation its outline. The vision gives revelation, the book of Revelation, its outline. John then tells John, Jesus then tells John in verse 19, look what he says, therefore write the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. Here John's commission to write what he has seen, which we already saw last time in verse 11, is not only restated by Christ, but given a more comprehensive and specific form. In this verse, we see a three-part division or outline of the entire book ahead of us. First, the things which you have seen refer to the past vision of the glorified Christ, which, again, we have just looked at, especially verses 11 through 20. Second, the things which are refers to the present condition of the seven churches in chapters two and three, which as we saw, again, represents all of the church age. And then the third, the things which will take place after these, refers to all of the future events described in chapters four through 22, which constitutes the main body of the book. But remember this, remember this in light of this outline. This again is trying to lay out kind of the structure. Jesus has given John kind of the rough structure of the book. Because these divisions, are general, since there are various references as we will see as we go along. There's references to the past, present, and future things within each one of these. So we might be in the future and it's taken us back to the past. So anyway, this is a general rough outline of the book. Four truths about John's vision of the glorified Christ that I believe the intent is to comfort and encourage all believers. The church is precious to Christ. The features of Christ's amazing glory, the response to seeing Christ's glory and the vision gives revelation its outline. As we close, I just wanna encourage that these truths about Christ himself and what he is presently doing In his church, my prayer is that these truths would grip all of our hearts. It would grip us. It wouldn't just be, okay, file that away, got that biblical knowledge. It would go from our head to our heart. It would grip our hearts and cause us not to worry, to refuse to worry about the future. whatever might come in our country, and also about the future of the church. Instead, we should be comforted and encouraged because we are in the hands of the one who is in sovereign control of all of it. May we rest in that.